JP2962240B2 - High sensitivity camera device for remote control head - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a high-sensitivity camera device for a remote control head, and more particularly to a high-sensitivity camera device mounted on a remote control head such as an information camera or a surveillance camera to perform high-sensitivity photographing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a high-sensitivity camera apparatus of this type, it is necessary to increase the sensitivity by reducing an increase in noise. Therefore, there has been a high-sensitivity camera device that combines a photomultiplier element and an individual image sensor, but in recent years,
Due to problems such as cost and maintenance, a high-sensitivity solid-state imaging device camera device of a signal charge accumulation type is often used.

FIG. 3 shows a CCD (Charge Couple).
FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a high-sensitivity camera device of a signal charge accumulation system using an ed device. In the drawing, a CCD 11 outputs a signal while a signal charge accumulation time is controlled by a CCD drive circuit 12. PRE AM
P2 is a circuit and an amplifier for detecting the output of the CCD 11, such as CDS (correlated double sampling) and IDDS (integrated delay difference noise elimination circuit).

The video memory 6 is a field memory or a frame memory for storing the output of the CCD 11 intermittently output in the high sensitivity mode in order to make it a continuous image. Process 7 is a video signal processing circuit such as a gain control circuit, a gamma processing circuit, a clip circuit, and an encoder circuit necessary for a general television camera, and is a circuit that performs signal processing required for a camera and outputs a video. The memory control circuit 13 is a circuit that controls writing and reading to and from the video memory 6 in accordance with the signal output timing of the CCD 10.

FIG. 4 shows a high-sensitivity camera device of a signal charge storage type as shown in FIG. 3 incorporated in a remote control head (not shown), the camera is set to a high sensitivity mode for storing four frames, and the head is panned. FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an output when the operation is performed.

[0006] As shown in FIG. 4 (a), when a subject of “△” and “○” is panned from left to right and imaged,
As shown in FIG. 4B, the output of the CD 11 is not output from the first frame (FR) to the third frame, and the output of the fourth frame accumulates images for four frames, thereby increasing the sensitivity.

By repeating the processing of these four frames,
A signal is output from the CCD 11 only once per frame. That is, a combination of “△” and “●” is output in the 0th frame, and a combination of “●” and “●” is output in the 4th frame.

[0008] As shown in FIG.
To the CCD 11 according to the output timing of the CCD 11.
Is written. Therefore, the same signal is repeatedly output from the video memory 6 to the next output of the CCD 11, and the continuous image with high sensitivity is output from the process 7.
In other words, "△" and "●"
Is output, and a combination of “●” and “●” is output from the fourth frame onward (up to the sixth frame in the figure).

[0009]

In the above-described conventional high-sensitivity camera apparatus of the signal charge accumulation type, when a remote control head incorporating the present apparatus is operated, an image output from the apparatus is moved in the direction in which the head moves. There is a problem that flows to.

As can be seen from the four frames of the CCD 11 output shown in FIG. 4, when the camera is set to the high sensitivity mode for storing four frames and the pan head is panned, the image during signal charge storage becomes a locus, The image that has become the trajectory is output. This phenomenon is caused by the fact that the signal charge accumulation time is longer than the normal accumulation time of one field (1/60 s) in the high sensitivity mode of the camera device and the pan and tilt operations of the camera platform are performed during the signal operation. This is remarkable when the charge accumulation time is lengthened or the pan / tilt rotation speed is increased.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems and to provide a remote control head for which a video output does not follow a locus even when a high-sensitivity camera device is set to a high-sensitivity mode and pan and tilt operations are performed. It is to provide a high sensitivity camera device.

[0012]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A high-sensitivity camera apparatus for a remote control head according to the present invention is a high-sensitivity camera apparatus for a remote control head which is used by being mounted on a head operated by remote control. An imaging element having a wider imaging area and outputting the imaging content as it is, an adding means for adding the image from the solid-state imaging element to an image one screen before, and a first video for storing the addition result of the adding means A memory, a second video memory for storing an image added by a predetermined number of times set by the adding means, and a head control signal for controlling the operation of the head and a sensitivity of an image output. Memory control means for controlling writing and reading to and from the first and second video memories according to the sensitivity control signal.

As described above, the high-sensitivity camera apparatus for a remote control head of the present invention uses a solid-state image sensor having a sufficient number of pixels in both the horizontal and vertical directions. A normal operation of outputting an image is performed, and the image is added to the immediately preceding image stored in the video memory to increase the sensitivity.

When the image read out for each field from the solid-state image sensor is added to the image of the previous screen, a control signal for the camera platform is input from the camera platform, and the image of the previous screen is added to the operation of the camera platform. The outputs of the solid-state image sensors that have room in both the horizontal and vertical directions so as to overlap the video are clipped and added. Thus, even when the camera platform is panned / tilted while the high-sensitivity camera device is in the high-sensitivity mode, it is possible to capture an image without flowing an image.

As the solid-state image sensor, a solid-state image sensor having an image pickup area wider than an effective image pickup area having a margin in both horizontal and vertical directions is used. By using an individual imaging element having an imaging area wider than the effective imaging range, even in the case where the pan / tilt pans and tilts, an image of a portion overlapping with the previous image is overlapped.

The first video memory uses two video memories, and the first video memory is a video memory for storing the content obtained by adjusting the position of the image with the previous screen and adding the same to the previous screen. Perform only the sensitivity magnification. The video added this predetermined number of times is transferred to the second video memory to update the content of the first video memory, and the content obtained by repeatedly adding the video to the new video memory is stored. The second video memory stores the video content added a predetermined number of times in the first video memory, and repeatedly outputs the same video until the next video is input.

Thus, even when the high-sensitivity camera device is set to the high-sensitivity mode and the pan and tilt operations of the camera platform are performed, the image output does not follow the trajectory. It can be carried out.

[0018]

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of one embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, a high sensitivity camera device according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a CCD 1 and a PRE A
It comprises an MP 2, an adder 3, video memories 4 and 6, a switch 5, a process 7, a CCD drive circuit 8, and a memory control circuit 9.

The CCD 1 is a CCD having an image pickup area wider than an effective image pickup area with sufficient margin in both horizontal and vertical directions. PRE
AMP2 uses CDS (correlated double sampling) and IDD
A circuit for detecting the output of the CCD 1 such as an S (integration type delay difference noise elimination circuit) and an amplifier. The adder 3 is a circuit for adding the image output from the CCD 1 through the PRE AMP 2 and the image read from the video memory 4.

The video memory 4 is a memory for storing the contents obtained by aligning the output of the CCD 1 with the image of the immediately preceding screen and adding them. The video memory 6 is a memory that stores video contents added a predetermined number of times using the contents stored in the video memory 4 and repeatedly outputs the stored video contents until the next video is input.

Process 7 is a video signal processing circuit such as a gain control circuit, a gamma processing circuit, a clipping circuit, and an encoder circuit necessary for a general television camera. The circuit performs signal processing required for a camera and outputs an image. It is. The CCD drive circuit 8 is a circuit of a timing generator and a driver for driving the CCD 1,
The operation is the same as a normal CCD camera. The memory control circuit 9 receives the sensitivity control signal and the pan head control signal and controls the video memories 4, 6 and the switch 5, respectively.

In the control of the video memory 4, the memory control circuit 9 reads the camera head control signal so that the output of the CCD 1 is read at the timing when the image output from the PRE AMP 2 matches the image of the video memory 4. The moving direction and the moving amount of the captured image in the screen are determined based on the directions and the moving speeds of the pan and the tilt, the images are aligned, and a read control signal is output. Also, the memory control circuit 9 outputs the output of the CCD 1 to PRE.
The video output through the AMP 2 and the video in the video memory 4 are added, and a write control signal for writing to the video memory 4 is output again.

When the adder 3 completes the addition process a predetermined number of times, the memory control circuit 9 turns off the switch 5 to input a new video to the video memory 4 and outputs a read control signal to the video memory 6. Then, the video in the video memory 6 is updated. The video memory 6 outputs the same video every frame until the stored content is updated.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing, in a screen form, signals of respective main blocks in a 4 × high sensitivity mode in the high sensitivity camera apparatus for a remote control head according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG.
2A shows the subject, FIG. 2B shows the output of the CCD 1 of FIG. 1, FIG. 2C shows the video writing position of the video memory 4 of FIG. 1, and FIG. Video memory 6
Shows the output. The operation when the sensitivity is increased four times and the pan head (not shown) is panned to the right will be described with reference to FIGS.

Now, when a subject ("△" and "よ う な") as shown in FIG. 2A is photographed, the output of the CCD 1 is displayed on the screen with time as shown in FIG. 2B. You can see it moves to the left. Here, a solid line indicates an image captured by the CCD 1 and a broken line indicates an effective image capturing area indicating a range of a screen output by the camera. The broken line also indicates the range to be added by the adder 3.

Immediately before the 0th frame, it is assumed that the video memory 4 has already stored the contents obtained by adding the video for three times. In this case, the output of the video memory 4 and the broken line portion of the output of the CCD 1 are added at the 0th frame, and
By adding frames of video, the sensitivity becomes four times higher. Then, after being transferred to the video memory 6, the process 7
, A video image with four times higher sensitivity is output.

In the first frame, a signal obtained by turning off the return of the video memory 4 by the switch 5 is added to the adder 3 in order to directly store the central portion of the output of the CCD 1 for newly starting addition in the video memory 4. And the signal is stored. As a video output, the content stored in the video memory 6 is output through the process 7.

In the second frame, the adder 3 adds the output of the video memory 4 and the portion shifted by the movement of the camera platform detected from the camera platform control signal of the output portion of the CCD 1, and determines the addition result as the sensitivity. Is stored in the video memory 4 again as a video with the height raised. At this time, the video output is 1
As in the case of the frame, the contents stored in the video memory 6 are output through the processing of the process 7.

The third frame performs the same processing as the second frame, and the fourth frame performs the same processing as the zeroth frame to update the contents of the video memory 6. Thereafter, the above-described processing is repeated in a four-frame cycle. Do with. By performing the above processing, even if the pan and tilt operations are performed by the pan head in the high-sensitivity mode, the image output does not follow the trajectory.

As described above, the normal operation of reading out for each field is performed by using the CCD 1 having an imaging area wider than the effective imaging range, and a head control signal is input from the head to control the operation of the head. In addition, by adding the image from the CCD 1 and the image from the previous screen and storing the added image in the video memory 4 so that the image from the previous screen and the image from the CCD 1 overlap with each other, high sensitivity is achieved. Even if the camera platform is panned or tilted in the high-sensitivity mode, images can be shot without flowing images.

[0031]

As described above, according to the present invention, the normal operation of reading out for each field is performed by using the solid-state imaging device having an imaging area wider than the effective imaging range, and the head is moved from the head to the head. By inputting a control signal and adding the image from the solid-state image sensor and the image from the previous screen so that the image from the solid-state image sensor and the image from the solid-state image sensor overlap each other according to the operation of the camera platform, the video memory By performing the high sensitivity by storing in the camera, the image output does not follow the locus even if the high sensitivity camera device is set to the high sensitivity mode and the pan and tilt operations of the camera platform are performed, so that the image does not flow, There is an effect that a photograph can be taken.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2A is a diagram showing a subject imaged by a high-sensitivity camera apparatus for a remote control head according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG.
2 is a diagram showing an output of the CCD of FIG. 1, (c) is a diagram showing a video writing position of the video memory of FIG. 1, and (d) is a diagram showing an output of the video memory of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a conventional example.

4A is a diagram showing a subject to be imaged by a conventional high-sensitivity camera apparatus for a remote control pan head, and FIG.
FIG. 4C is a diagram showing the output of the CD, and FIG. 4C is a diagram showing the output of the video memory of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 CCD 2 PRE AMP 3 Adder 4, 6 Video memory 5 Switch 7 Process 8 CCD drive circuit 9 Memory control circuit

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. A high-sensitivity camera device for a remote control head mounted and used on a head operated by remote control, the solid-state imaging device having an imaging area wider than an effective imaging range and outputting imaging contents as it is. Adding means for adding the image from the solid-state image sensor to the image of the previous screen, a first video memory for storing the addition result of the adding means, and adding a predetermined number of times preset by the adding means. A second video memory for storing images, the first and second video memories in response to a head control signal for controlling the operation of the head and a sensitivity control signal for controlling the sensitivity of image output; And a memory control unit for controlling writing and reading to and from the remote control head. 2. The memory control unit according to claim 1, wherein the first image and the image from the solid-state image sensor overlap each other in accordance with an operation of the camera platform indicated by the camera platform control signal. 2. The high-sensitivity camera apparatus for a remote control head according to claim 1, wherein writing and reading to and from the video memory are controlled. 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the memory control unit is configured to control the first number of times according to the predetermined number of times specified by the sensitivity control signal.
3. The high-sensitivity camera apparatus for a remote control head according to claim 1, wherein writing and reading to and from the second video memory are controlled. 4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the second video memory is configured to repeatedly output a video to be stored until a next video is input from the first video memory. A high-sensitivity camera device for a remote control head according to the description.